Grand Staircase
The Grand Staircase is a massive stairway in Hogwarts Castle, the structure is mainly used to access each floor of the castle, including the dungeons. Rowena Ravenclaw was the Hogwarts founder who invented the concept of moving stairs. Description There are hundreds of Portraits covering the walls in this tower, some of which conceal secret passages to other areas within the school. The multiple staircases in the Grand Staircase lead from platform to platform and go as high as the seventh floor where they come to an end. The stairs also have a knack for moving around the staircase chamber, usually when a student is walking up one of them. There are also many trick stairs that cause the victim to sink through a step and require another person to pull them out. However, it is second nature to most of the older students to jump them. Behind the scenes *The Fat Lady's portrait is on the seventh floor landing in the later films making it entirely visible to passers by; however, in the first film, her portrait is shown in a corridor somewhere else in the Castle. *In the third movie, it's shown that Grand Staircase travel upward to more than ten stories. *In the first two films the stairs are shown to have door to corridor at every landing. But in the next films, one floor is equal to two floors in the first two films. *In the first five films the stairs are shown to be constantly moving, something which is never mentioned in the novels. When the stairs are seen again in , it has a different appearance with grandeur marble stairs and the stairs no longer move. Upon leaving the Entrance Hall the wider middle staircases travel upward while the staircases to the side travel downward. However, they could have stopped moving for the battle. Also the staircase could have moved to match Snape's running of the castle giving students enough room to move in large collective groups up and down the stairs without stopping. It may be possible that the Grand Staircase remains this way in future films, as the CGI Model of Hogwarts from is reused in . *When Dolores Umbridge takes over the school in she has Argus Filch take down all the portraits from the Grand Staircase. She also puts speakers constantly reciting her Educational Decrees on each floor. When Albus Dumbledore is restored to Hogwarts, the portraits are restored as well. *In , Prefects lead Ravenclaw students to their Common room, where they walk down the stairs from the Entrance Hall, which leads to the Dungeons where the Slytherin Dungeon is. But in the video game adaptation of we see that Cho also walk down there, and there is a single platform that faces a plain wall. However, in , the Ravenclaw common room is seen to be accessed by going up a smaller staircase that seems to lead off from the Grand Staircase. *Although this structure is referred to as the "Marble Staircase" on (see this image), on the books the Marble Staircase is a flight of stairs connecting the Entrance Hall with the first floor. *In , the staircases are controlled by a portrait, who changes the levels the staircases lead to. Appearances * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Notes and references de2:Große Treppe es:Gran Escalera pl:Wielkie Schody pt-br:Grande Escadaria ru:Лестницы Хогвартса vi:Hệ thống Cầu thang Category:Staircases